Done for and Done TO

To hear what God has done for and, even more, TO you--click on this MP3 audio link--"Done for and Done TO."

The Lord's blessings to you as He prepares you to rejoice in the birth of His only begotten Son and the Holy Spirit prepares you to receive and believe the words of the Father that lift you out of he depths of hell and into the kingdom of heaven.

A rough preaching manuscript follows below if you prefer to read along or read instead.

TEXT: 15"The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen— 16just as you desired of the LORD your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, 'Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God or see this great fire any more, lest I die.' 17And the LORD said to me, 'They are right in what they have spoken. 18I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. 19And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him.'" Deuteronomy 18:15-19

That prophet of course is Jesus, the Word of God made flesh. Not only did He speak all that the Father commanded Him, He lived it—and died it—for you.

Now risen from the dead and ascended to the right hand of the Father, Jesus lives it again and speaks it to the ends of the earth until the end of the age as He extends the words God the Father put in his mouth to the world through the ministers of His Word.

"The one who hears you hears me, and the one who rejects you rejects me, and the one who rejects me rejects him who sent me." Luke 10:16


These concluding words, "the one who rejects you rejects me, and the one who rejects me rejects him who sent me," are ominous indeed—especially in light of the concluding words of our OT text, "and whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him."


This, of course, is a statement of judgment and condemnation. Here in a few words the LORD is saying, "Okay, you don't want to listen to me? I'm going to hold you to it. I'm going to require of you that you do it all yourself. Have it your way! But remember, your way is death. You have eaten of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, just like your parents and grandparents—just like Adam and Eve. And just like them, you will surely die. What's more, if you do not want to listen to my words, you will die eternally without ever ceasing to exist. Your dying and all the suffering and torment of dying will never be over. For what can the one who is surely dying do to stop his death? What can the one who has fallen and begun the endless descent into the bottomless pit of hell do to stop his fall, and rise to live again?"

But enough of this! You have not come here to ignore the words of the LORD and reject Him. You are here because you have been gathered by the Holy Spirit to listen to the words that this prophet Jesus came to speak in the name of the LORD His Father, our Father who art in heaven. And His words are the words of eternal life. His words are the words that not only tell you what He has done for you in the virgin birth; in the perfectly sinless life; in the holy, precious bloodshed; in the innocent suffering and death; in the descent into the depths of hell; in the resurrection from death, hell, and the grave; in the glorious ascension to heaven of His only begotten Son, Jesus the Christ. Even more than this, His words are also the words that tell you what He is doing to you save you, to stop your descent into that bottomless pit of hell, to raise you out of the grave, to place you into the kingdom of heaven, and to give you eternal life.

These words by which our mighty God did great things not just for, but to her are the words the blessed virgin Mary, the mother of our Lord, received, believed, and rejoiced in according to our Gospel text this morning. Mary actually sings a list of those things that God her Savior has done to her and to all people.

"My soul magnifies the Lord, 47and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
48for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant.
For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
49for he who is mighty has done great things to me, and holy is his name.
50And his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation.
51He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts;
52he has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate;
53he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent empty away.
54He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy,
55as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his offspring forever."

And here is what is so amazing and instructive for us in Mary's "Magnificat." Who of us could hold a candle to her in terms of innocence, righteousness, and good works? She is the very mother of God having born the flesh of the only begotten Son of God into the world. Yet she sings this song of praise in total humility before God to Elizabeth and all mankind, and she plumbs the depths of the meaning of those essential words of the prophet, Isaiah [64:6], "But we are all like an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; We all fade as a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, Have taken us away."

You see, as horrible and destructive as our sinful behavior is, it is our good works—even our best works that are our biggest problem. It is these that make us think more of ourselves than we ought. It is these that tempt us into trusting in our own righteousness and thinking we somehow deserve God's blessings. It is these that prevent us from receiving, believing, and rejoicing in what God does for and especially to us.

So let us now once again join with her and all the hosts of heaven and sing "The Magnificat," rejoicing in God our Savior who has looked on our humble estate and forgiven us all our sins--in the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Behold Your God

If you would like to hear the sermon preached at Trinity Lutheran Church in Layton, Utah for Gaudete, the Third Sunday in Advent, click on this MP3 audio link--"Behold Your God."

The audio includes the Hymn of the Day, "Arise, O Christian People," LSB #354. The sermon begins at the 3:00 mark.

Behold your God has come to gather you into His arms and tend you like a the flock of His church where He tends you like a shepherd.

A rough preaching manuscript follows below if you prefer to read along or read instead.

TEXT: Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the LORD’s hand double for all her sins.

A voice cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”

A voice says, “Cry!” And I said, “What shall I cry?” All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the LORD blows on it; surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.

Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good news; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good news; lift it up, fear not; say to the cities of Judah, “Behold your God!” Behold, the Lord GOD comes with might, and his arm rules for him; behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him. He will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young.

But who wants that?

“Behold your God!” Bah, humbug!

The message of the prophets--“Behold your God!”

The message of John the Baptizer--“Behold your God!”

The message of the apostles--“Behold your God!”

The message of the church, her pastors, and all the baptized--“Behold your God!”

Take a look at your bulletin cover. Imagine John, dressed in camel hair; a diet of locusts and honey; living out in the wilderness preaching and baptizing. And this guy points to another no more impressive himself really—as Isaiah writes elsewhere:
“… he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.” [53:2-3] Even his birth as a babe is not worth beholding.

How ironic—and appropriate--that the One who saves us from our sin would have “no beauty that we should desire him, while the one who tempted and lured us into sin had a beauty about him that was appealing to Adam & Eve and continues to be appealing to us today.

That is why sin is so deadly. We don’t know any better than to desire it and even love it. It’s not the sin we do, as bad and as harmful as that is to others. It’s that in our sin we don’t know God—He is actually ugly and undesirable to us.

And so, A voice cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”

A voice says, “Cry!” And I said, “What shall I cry?” All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the LORD blows on it; surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.

Luther writes: “The law works the wrath of God, kills, curses, accuses, judges, and damns everything that is not in Christ.” This what Isaiah and the voice is crying about.

Why? “What you sow does not come to life unless it dies.” [1 Corinthians 15:36]

The voice that cries out these things, even the voice that cries out--“Behold your God!”—is the voice of the Lord.

The same voice that cried out to Adam and Eve, “Where are you?”

The same voice that cried out to Isaiah and the prophets giving them the words they were to speak; the same voice that cried out from Isaiah and the prophets.

The same voice that cried out from John the Baptizer out in the wilderness.

The same voice that cried out from the apostles.

This voice cries out to you “Behold your God!”

Out there, in the world, the wrath of God is at work, killing, cursing, accusing, judging, and damning everything that is not in Christ.

But here, in the Word, the grace of God is at work, raising to blessing, forgiving, and raising to eternal life--in the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Behold, the Day Is Coming

If you would like to hear the sermon preached at Trinity Lutheran Church in Layton, Utah for Ad Te Levavi, the Second Sunday in Advent, click on this MP3 audio link--"Behold, the Day Is Coming."

The audio includes the Hymn of the Day, "Lo! He Comes on Clouds Descending," LSB #336. The sermon begins at the 4:47 mark.

Behold, the Day Is Coming--indeed it is already here--when Jesus forgives you all your sins and gives you eternal life.

A rough preaching manuscript follows below if you prefer to read along or read instead.

Behold, the Day Is Coming! This is the message of Advent. That is what Advent means: coming. So in the season of the church year called Advent, we prepare for the coming of the Lord, our Savior -- Jesus the Christ, the Son of the living God.

Last week we heard the prophet Jeremiah tell us to, Behold the coming of the righteous branch of David, the One who came to bring righteousness to the earth and make us righteous by coming to die and rise and ascend. While the Gospel of Matthew had us Behold our king coming to us humbly on a donkey. Both so we might Behold our king coming humbly in the things of His Church to bestow His righteousness on us by forgiving us our sins.

Now today we Behold the day that is coming when this king who came humbly will come in all His glory.

Malachi tells us that glory is a two-edged something of a two-edged sword. This is something to remember well when we get caught up in the desire for the glory of the Lord.

1“For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble. The day that is coming shall set them ablaze, says the LORD of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch. 2But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall. 3And you shall tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet, on the day when I act, says the LORD of hosts. Malachi 4:1–3

The sun is a raging inferno that would vaporize us if we were not in the proper place in relationship to it. The temperature at the surface of the sun is about 10,000 Fahrenheit. The temperature rises from the surface of the sun inward towards the very hot center of the sun where it reaches about 27,000,000 Fahrenheit. Yet here on earth, 92,955,807.3 mi away, God has placed us in the perfect place in relationship to the heat it generates to be able to live. In fact, without the heat and light form the sun we couldn’t live.

To be in the proper place in relationship to the LORD for His coming in glory [reference Malachi] text we must be in the relationship of faith that lives in the forgiveness of Christ as a repentant sinner-- confessing our sin as the most heinous before God and the only evil that separates us from His love and places us in the blaze of His righteous anger. That means, for us and our salvation, because of His great mercy and love for us, we behold the glory of the Lord now in a very different way—the glory of the cross.

Easily, the most frequently asked question of me is, “Pastor why do you have to call us sinners all the time – every sermon, every service?” And truth be told, unlike “Jeopardy,” it is not always phrased in the form of a question – “Pastor, my parents/children/friends don’t like to come here because of all that talk about sin in our service and your sermons. You need to be more upbeat and the service should be more uplifting if we want our church to grow.”

But what is more uplifting, more glorious, than to be rescued from the depths of our sin and into the very presence of God in His holy Kingdom? Sadly, much of Christianity would have you believe that, once you have heard the good news and accepted Jesus as your personal Savior who lives in your heart, sin is no longer an issue for you. Therefore, if you believe and have the Holy Spirit, all that is left is to be happy and to tell God and the world how much you love them. So church becomes a matter of entertainment and partying with the Lord—seeking to bask in His glory.

The prophet Malachi shows us how dangerous that glory apart from the cross really is.

Dear people of Trinity, church is all about delivering the forgiveness of sins, or it is nothing at all. It is why Jesus came, it is why he comes, it is why He is coming again –to take away the sin of the world, and to take us away from the sin of the world. Behold! The day is coming when the Lord in all His glory will utterly destroy all sin and sinfulness in the blaze of His glory. To prepare us, this is what He is always coming to do in His Word—destroy our sin and putting us in the proper place in relationship to Him, i.e. faith.

That is what a Savior does. That is what our Savior does. That is what The Savior does.

If you have no sin you need no Savior and Christmas is a hapless holiday, a moldy manger, a feastless festival—and you will be in the wrong place in relationship to the Sun of righteousness when He comes in His blazing glory.

So repent! The kingdom of God is at hand. Advent IS coming, Jesus coming to earth for the salvation of all who believe.

Let it be so among us now and until the very end of our days so that when we behold the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory we will not be consumed in the blaze of glory but be healed as the sun of righteousness

Have a most blessed Advent season, a very merry Christmas and I’ll see you in church – where the LORD is coming and is here to forgive you all your sins and give you eternal life– In the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

O Tannenbaum! I Hardly Knew Ye

"A high wind event creating problems in many parts of the Wasatch Front- especially Davis County- where a recent gust was clocked at 100 mph !"


No kidding!!!


This is what my yard looks like.


Looks like the peach trees made it.


But nine of our ten 30'+ evergreens were uprooted.


O Tannebaum, o Tannebaum,



Wie schön waren die Zweige!


O Tannebaum, o Tannebaum,


Wie schön waren die Zweige!


Yet, Lo, how the rose is budding!